XXXIX NGO MEETING AT THE WHITE PALACE

At the 39th meeting of humanitarian, international and local Nongovernmental Organizations dedicated to the child and youth rights and presentation of the SOS Child Line Project

From left to right: Mrs. Tatjana Colin, from the Ministry of Work, Employment and Social Affairs, Mrs. Nevena Sahovic, President of the Center for Child Rights, Mrs. Suzana Paunovic, from the Ministry of Work, Employment and Social Affairs, HRH Crown Princess Katherine, Mrs. Marija Kordic, Deputy Ombudsman for Child Rights from the Assembly of Vojvodina, Mrs. Ljiljana Ivanisevic, Psychologist of the Center for the Protection of Nurslings Children and Youth, Mr. Zoran Milicic, Director of Center for the Protection of Nurslings, Children and Youth from Belgrade

Belgrade, 5 September 2005 – Today at the White Palace at Dedinje, humanitarian, international and local Nongovernmental Organizations attended the 39th meeting organized by the Foundation of HRH Crown Princess Katherine. This meeting was dedicated to child and youth rights and to the presentation of the SOS Child Line Project.

At the very beginning, all participants were greeted by HRH Crown Princess Katherine who stressed that children and the youth are the future of this country and that it is very important to work hard on defining and respecting child and youth rights.

The participants were then addressed by guest speakers, representatives of the Ministry of Work, Employment and Social Affairs, representatives of the Center for Child and Youth Care of Belgrade, The Deputy Ombudsman for Child Rights from the Assembly of Vojvodina and representative of the Center for Child Rights.

Mrs. Ljiljana Ivanisevic, Psychologist of the Center for the Protection of Nurslings Children and Youth, who will be in charge of the SOS Child Line, stated her pleasure for meeting here with people from former child care projects. She briefly presented the basic goal of establishing and operating this very important project with particular reference to very successful SOS Child line projects in Great Britain and the rest of the world.

Mr. Zoran Milicic, Director of Center for the Protection of Nurslings, Children and Youth from Belgrade stressed his confidence in successful and bright future of this project and thanked HRH Crown Princess Katherine Foundation and the Ministry of Work, Employment and Social Affairs for successful cooperation.

Mrs. Suzana Paunovic, from the Ministry of Work, Employment and Social Affairs, spoke about adopting the New Family Law in the Assembly of Serbia that will protect children to a larger extent from family abuse, as positive refreshment after a full twenty five years.

Mrs. Tanja Colin, from the Ministry of Work, Employment and Social Affairs, stressed that the Ministry will strive to work on the complementation of mutual cooperation of the institutions in charge for social care, and she announced that the Ministry will organize within three weeks a meeting of NGOs in the Ministry where more will be discussed about the subject.

Mrs. Marija Kordic, Deputy Ombudsman for Child Rights from the Assembly of Vojvodina presented the success of the work which has been done in Vojvodina mostly in primary schools. This was a pilot program of child line.

The participants were also addressed by Mrs. Nevena Sahovic, President of the Center for Child Rights who expressed her concern on the lack of precise data about family violence in our country, as well as the lack of necessary synchronization of the institutions in charge.

A short discussion with questions, observations and suggestions followed the presentation.

At the end of the meeting HRH Crown Princess Katherine stressed her hope that this project will come to life and gain importance, that common effort and child care will bring us all a better future.